Friday, October 2, 2015
The Greatest Power Known to Man
It's been said that the greatest gift ever given to man was fire. Fire gives us warmth, food, protection, and above all, light. Indeed, fire is pretty awesome. But I take on the challenge to disagree with the theory that fire is the be all end all of human power. In fact, I'm going to argue that the greatest power discovered by humans is one of a much humbler nature than that of a sparkling flame, yet still shares many of its characteristics. This power, much like that to create fire, is in all of us. It lies in the quietest corners of our households, under beds, on shelves, and scattered across messy coffee tables. The secrets hidden through their pages wait patiently for you to one day pick them up and hear what they have to say. If you haven't already guessed, this ultimate power we all have as humans is the ability to read and write literature. Now I understand that doesn't sound as impressive as the ability to wield fire, but they're really not all that different in nature. Like fire, the messages books lend to us spread quickly through our society. They leave a lasting (one could say "burnt") impression in our minds. If one were to read and fully absorb every piece of literature ever created, they'd be the wisest man or woman of our time. So, I invite you to take this journey with me as I discover the tiny wisdoms scattered across the pages of our world's greatest literature.
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At first I had no idea where you were leading with the concept of fire being most powerful. When you transitioned into literature being like fire it made complete sense. Literature is powerful because it gives us the opportunity to learn and develop as readers in different ways. Books leave different messages and concepts that we probably would not find anywhere else. I am glad you brought up two different concepts and made them relate to each other.
ReplyDeleteIt was not until I reread your paragraph that I realized you acknowledged the attributes of fire and advance your points based on it, and I was engaged to continue to read your paragraph because of that. Also, the element of fire really tie in with your latter thoughts, and the first few lines had a connection with the rest of your paragraph. Besides, I really like your syntax and control with the placement of comma. I am looking forward to gain insight from your writing style.
ReplyDeleteThis blog post is absolutely genius. I completely understand what you mean when you say that the power to wield fire as being almost the same as writing a book. I actually read this twice because I love it so much. After reading this post, I wonder what else you have up your sleeve, and I am excited to see what you have next.
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ReplyDeleteI WANT TO CRY. THIS IS GREAT. In all seriousness, I read this and asked myself "why didn't I think of this?" The idea that reading and writing are the real great powers that man is able to wield is simple ingenious. But I also agree with you. The ability to read and write has advanced human beings and in fact a writing system is the foundation of a civilization and history starts when writing does not when humans discovered fire. I really can't wait to see what other insightful things you are going to come up with when reading. I can tell you've been an avid reader based solely on your writing ability so I'm sure you're going to have some amazing and refreshing ideas!
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